ENOUGH – a new project that will identify how food industry can become net zero by 2050

 

New EU Research and Innovation Project ENOUGH: A European Food Chain Supply to Reduce GHG Emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050

 

The project at a glance

 

Food systems are responsible for about 20 to almost 40 % of total global greenhouse gas emissions and there are several challenges to be addressed. Across the whole food chain, approximately 60% of food should be refrigerated at some point and it is estimated that approximately 70% of emissions from food are related to perishable food. A very important challenge is to reduce these emissions. Their main source  is related to energy use within the food chain, but leakage of high GWP refrigerants is another relevant source.

 

The ENOUGH project has set objectives to address and reduce emissions from the food sector. The main scope of the project is to support the EU’s  sustainable farm to fork Strategy by providing technical, financial, and political tools and solutions to reduce GHG emissions (by 2030) and achieve carbon neutrality (by 2050) in the food industry.

 

To reach this target, the following main goals have been set by the project:

• Reduce GHGemissions by at least 50% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
• Identify how to achieve carbon neutrality for food businesses by reducing energy use and increasing energy efficiency.
• Improve the overall integrated sustainability of food systems (including social/health, climate/environmental and economic aspects) whilst meeting societal goals.
• Raise awareness among policy makers, businesses, investors, entrepreneurs, institutions, stakeholders and citizens of the selected innovative systemic solutions and their potential for uptake at EU scale.

 

The plan adopted by ENOUGH aims firstly to provide information and determine a strong baseline on the food chain for 1990 and 2020 to predict food sector emissions in 2030 and 2050. These predictions consider key factors such as world population trends, climate change, the use of renewable energy systems, consumer behaviour and technological development. Roadmaps will then be defined to describe the full food supply chain, from harvest to consumption, to establish new practices for each link in the food chain (processing, packaging, storage, transport etc.) and to reduce GHG emissions. The project also aims to demonstrate promising technological solutions applied in seven food sectors (meat, fish, fruit/vegetables, dairy, transport, retail and domestic). The demonstrators will show different actors how to limit emissions. Examples are the replacement of fossil fuel boilers by heat pumps in thermal processes of the meat, fish and dairy sectors. The project will also review EU policies and regulations, communicate with EU policy makers and provide them with guidelines for achieving a carbon neutral food supply chain.

 

See the website

 

ENOUGH consortium

The project consortium includes experts from nine EU countries, the UK, Norway, and Turkey. The consortium is composed of 28 partners with extensive knowledge and proven expertise in the food industry, cold chain management and advanced refrigeration processes. The project is coordinated by SINTEF Ocean in Norway. An interactive collaboration between all partners from research institutes and universities (SO, LSBU, UoB, INRAE, KU Leuven, CNR, TU Graz, NTNU, VMU, SUT ,VCBT, UNIVPM, UGOE), industry (ENEX, ENGIE, Eletica, Campden BRI, VISD, EPTA, Arçelik, Rørosmeieriet, Optiflux, City FM, FrostX, Yeo Valley), associations (ANIA), federations (EFFoST) and organisations (IIR) will be maintained throughout the project to implement, demonstrate, explore and communicate new technological solutions to achieve zero carbon emissions.

 

 

Contacts:

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 01036588